A Broken Heart John Donne Analysis

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The Speaker’s Changes in Attitudes in “A Broken Heart” In “A Broken Heart,” John Donne reveals the speaker’s unusual attitude toward love through language, imagery, and form. The speaker regards love as a relentless, powerful, and cruel monster that transcends human control. Personification and dramatic monologue help the reader to understand the speaker’s warped perspective of love. Meter, rhyme scheme and pattern also emphasize the unstable tone in each octave. After the first two stanzas, the speaker’s attitude shifts from exaggerated rage to withdrawn grief. Even though an ex-lover caused his heart’s deterioration, the speaker cannot blame her because “after one such love” he could love no other. The brokenhearted speaker utilizes language Literal and figurative imagery help decipher the speaker’s tone, and how it evolves from the first octave to the last octave. The first stanza contains examples of figurative imagery such as “That he hath been in love an hour, / Yet not that love so soon decays, / But that it can ten in less space devour;” (2-4). The figurative image describes love as a devourer who can decay ten hearts within an hour, thus demonstrating the speaker’s view point toward brutal love. The imagery in the last two stanzas changes with the shift in attitude that develops later on in the poem. Language in the third stanza creates another figurative image through personification: “Mine would have taught thine heart to show / More pity unto me: but Love, alas, / At one first blow did shiver it as glass” (22-24). These lines give the reader a tactile experience which aids in the comprehension of the speaker’s broken concept of love. However, the fourth stanza contains both literal and figurative imagery when describing the broken looking glass. The poet relates the glass heart to a mirror “as broken glasses show / a hundred lesser faces, so / My rags of heart can like, wish and adore” (29-31). Just like the glass, the speaker’s attitude has been broken down from its original hostility to a submissive sob. Throughout the poem, imagery helps the reader sense and identify the emotions going on within the

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